Merlin’s Company: The dangers of Travel!

The roads around Camelot have become increasingly treacherous. Now the simple act of traveling exposes you to new perils… unless Merlin comes to your aid.

The Travel deck introduced in Merlin’s Company adds a new dimension to the game. Each time you travel from one Quest to another, you will draw a card from the Travel deck. If you are lucky, nothing ominous will happen, and Merlin might even come to your aid.

However, if you are unlucky, you might get lost, ambushed… or even taken captive by a greedy lord and held for ransom. You will then need your companions’ help and favor, for without them you will remain captive forever… Can you convince them you are worthy of the ransom being asked?

These new cards add a new dimension to travels in the shadows that loom over Camelot! Your every move will have to be planned and thought significantly different from what they were before. Can you really survive the dangers that await you in this new expansion?

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 15:40 and is filed under Games, Shadows over Camelot. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Not a pass for me…the travel cards are not the only changes to the game. With new knights (new abilities) plus new cards for the decks (black and white) greatly enhances the game. Merlin is now a figure on the board and the possibility of TWO traitors changes the mechanics of the game. The whole dynamic will be different. Methinks Nathan has not thought through the expansion as a whole…but to each his own.
Thanks guys for the work you put into this expansion…I want my copy as soon as I can get it!

I am looking forward to the expansion as well. Having an 8th player is good for me along with the changed dynamics of the 2nd Traitor. I think as a whole, the expansion adds enough to warrant a purchase. The game could still use additional quests in the future but this is by no means a bust for me.

Gotta say I’ve been waiting for this expansion for a good while. The list of what’s included seems a bit thin for the asking price in my opinion. I haven’t played it yet, but the implementation of Merlin, The Witches Coven and the Travel deck best make-up for the value of the expansion.

Providing new knight abilities on the same printed cards we already have is sort of weak. We’ll use the better ones and hope they are not just for Arthur, Galahad and Tristan who are the best in the game at present.

Providing Bedivere is worthless to the people that already have it, which is probably the majority of your players. Could you have used the funds to draw some new Knight art on the coat of arms for us?

A second traitor in a game for 7 or 8 folks is interesting. However, we don’t really get more than 5 or 6 in our group. How’d you come up with this feature as I wonder if it was really researched amongst your game play base.

Leaving us all dedicated players hoping these Merlin and Witch cards are worth it. As Nathan mentioned above… if travel cards hose my turn that’s a Negative Play Experience that the Traitors can exploit. Whoopie!

Keeping me wondering… as I’ll buy it and then know if it was worth it. Wa wa…

But the lost turn can bring some interesting moments in the game, you then have to convince other knights that you are loyal and worth of being saved, or convince the other traitor to free you.

I don’t know what everyone have against the new knights. For one, with 7 less dices and miniatures to produce, the expansion will cost a lot less to produce, thus increasing its chances of being a financial success (keep in mind that we are talking about an expansion for a 3 years old game). And if this expansion is financially successful, other expansions for older games, like Pirates’ Cove or maybe a second expansion for SoC, will have an easier time to get a green light from DOW.

Also, remember when Bedivere was released, suddently people began to play with 8 players instead of 7 like the game was originally intended. With 15 different miniatures, how many groups would be tempted to play with more than 8 players?

I have no idea how knights selection will be, but it seems to be so that there will have two green, blue, purple, orange, yellow, black and white knights, and Arthur. With 8 players, Arthur will always be present in the game, and it gives to the other players a choice over which of the two knights they want to play, whether it is the most powerful of both knights, the knight which suit their playing style best, or maybe a knight that will allow them to make combo or synergy with other players’ knights, which is a bit better than leaving knight selection entirely down to luck.